Retail inflation surged to 4.62 per cent in October, mainly on account of higher food prices, according to government data released on Wednesday. The inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 3.99 per cent in September and 3.38 per cent in October 2018. The inflation in the food basket spiked to 7.89 per cent in October 2019 as against 5.11 per cent the preceding month.
The Reserve Bank mainly factors in the CPI-based inflation to arrive at its bi-monthly monetary policy. The RBI has been asked to keep the retail inflation at around 4 per cent.
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